If I'm being real, the best part about Valentine's Day is all of the chocolate. One year my mom gave me a gift card to a high-end chocolate shop in Manhattan for Valentine's Day and it was the best present. Pat and I don't normally celebrate in a big way but I enjoy the sentiment behind the holiday as I always think that it's good to spread the love!

This year I was asked to participate in a fun Galentine's blogger party and I was super excited! There's nothing better than baking with chocolate and I immediately knew I wanted to do a chocolate layer cake. Even though with cakes I normally lean towards vanilla, since it was Valentine's related it seemed like the perfect time to try. I've been drooling over Sarah Kieffer's cookbook for a while and her recipe for chocolate cake was divine! It was so rich and dense. I decided to go with whipped cream frosting instead of buttercream because I wanted it to be lighter and less sweet. The results were amazing and I'm also SO glad I went with the naked cake look because things were getting messy while decorating (haha).

Check out the recipe below, along with some other talented bloggers below, and follow along on Instagram with the hashtag #galentinesday!

Chocolate Coffee Layer Cake(cake from The Vanilla Bean Baking Book by Sarah Kieffer)

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter and flour three six inch round cake pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With the mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely. I cool them upside down on a rack so that the domes flatten out.

In the meantime, make the whipped cream frosting by combining heavy cream, cocoa powder, confectioner's sugar, and vanilla extract in a large metal bowl. Beat with electric mixer until firm. Add in melted chocolate. Continue beating until stiff peaks form.

Place one layer, flat side up, on a plate. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second and third layers on top, rounded side up and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake. I added in fresh raspberries to the layers as well!